Scion of Humanity

Blake squinted his eyes and raised his hand to block the sun’s rays. The steady clang of hammers was an alarm he could not turn off.

I really need some curtains and earplugs.

He pulled the sheets over his head, and tried his best to ignore the steady rhythm, yet sleep evaded him.

After he returned to the faction town, brother in tow, he was informed that the treasury was empty. Further progress would be stalled until the nano coffers could be refilled.

No matter how much he wished to relax with his friends, he knew he was needed elsewhere. He drove down to Whiteriver alone in one of their new diesel trucks, and entered the Mander portal. The scenario took him far longer than he expected, and he did not return until almost two in the morning.

Fine, I guess it’s time to get up.

A few minutes later, he equipped his stained armor and stumbled down the stairs. The smell of bacon wafted from the cookhouse, overwriting all other needs, even the use of the privy.

He waved at Jordan and Brent on his way to breakfast. Jordan returned the gesture, while Brent scowled and ignored him.

What’s up with that?

They worked diligently on the faction hall upgrade, which was only possible thanks to Blake’s late night Mander run. Each pound of their hammers sent spikes of pain into his tired brain, and he activated Regeneration in an effort to ward off his migraine.

At least I didn’t waste my time last night.

Blake entered the cookhouse and found Montgomery and Jeff in the process of devouring a full plate of pancakes. Both had a pile of bacon beside them. He joined his friends at the table and immediately stole a slice.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Montgomery complained.

Blake ignored his friend and took another, which prompted him to shield his pile of pork with his arm.

“Go get your own breakfast,” the volunteer firefighter growled. “This is the good stuff here, my reward!”

With a sigh, Blake pushed himself away from the table and wandered into the kitchen. He found his father inside at the stove with four large cast iron skillets full of meat.

“Oh hey, Blake!” his father greeted him cheerfully.

He grunted his reply.

Peter chuckled. “Looks like someone needs some coffee. There’s a pot over there,” he pointed.

Blake followed the words of wisdom and filled a cup, which he eagerly sipped in silence. A few minutes later, he felt like a new man. Whether it was Regeneration which rejuvenated him, or it was the magic of coffee, he would never know.

“So,” he broke the silence of the kitchen. “How does it feel to be on the run from the law?”

His father chuckled. “Well, besides the lack of phone, I haven’t really noticed a difference.” Peter flipped a few pieces of bacon and added, “By the way. I never got a chance to thank you for saving Oliver last night before you left.”

“Thank Montgomery and Jeff. They’re the ones that went in after him.”

“Oh, I already did,” Peter smiled. “Why do you think I’m cooking bacon instead of oatmeal? I promised them whatever breakfast they wanted, and they chose bacon and pancakes. Well, Montgomery did,” he amended. “Jeff just kind of shrugged. Your friend doesn’t talk much, does he?”

Blake shook his head. “Not around Montgomery, he doesn’t. But, get him alone, and he opens right up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” his father grinned. “Oh, I almost forgot. Your mother wanted to see you before you left today.”

“Everything okay?”

He shrugged. “She didn’t say anything to me, so it’s probably just Chancellor business. Oh, don’t forget. I need a carcass for my next directive.”

“Okay, but it’ll have to be a Mander, and you’ll have to come with. It’s gonna be hard to get a hold of Ursa anytime soon, and I don’t think you really want to eat goblin meat.”

“Dear God, no,” his father laughed and then asked, “Isn’t the Mander world hot? Aren’t there any other scenarios we can go to?”

“Yeah, there are, but they’re further away, and I’m already killing Manders anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll drag them to the entrance so you can transport them back here. It’s really hot, but a minute or two won’t kill you. Just don’t go near the walls. That’s when things really heat up.”

“Well, I did want to see another world,” he admitted. “Just let me know when it’s time to show up.”

Blake nodded and thanked him for the coffee. He grabbed a few slices of bacon.

“That's all?” His father asked. “Just a bit ago, you would have eaten everything in the kitchen.”

Blake laughed. “Glad that’s over. I’m going to see mom now.” He scarfed them down on the way back to the bunkhouse. As he passed the faction hall, Brent gave him another scowl.

Brent had a dour expression painted across his face since Blake first met him. The man seemed to be consistently annoyed at life in general, but he had never seen it aimed in his direction.

Until now.

Okay, let’s go see what’s wrong.

He strode over to the construction site and stood just a few feet away from Brent while he worked. A board suddenly appeared within his hands. The constructor placed it firmly against the frame and quickly nailed it tight.

“What do you want?” Brent grunted.

“I wanted to see what’s wrong.”

“Nothin’.”

“Yeah, well you seem more annoyed than normal, and I wanted to find out why.”

“Fine, if you really want to know.” Brent dropped his hammer and rounded on Blake. “Your lazy ass brother hasn’t done shit around here, yet he’s given gear that makes him stronger. But, that isn’t enough for him. No, he gets bored and decides to go get high. Now, cops are dead, and all it’ll take is one mistake, and we’re all in jail.”

Well, that spread quick.

Brent took a deep breath and continued his rant, “You’d think after you brought in the cavalry to save his ungrateful ass that he’d change his ways, but no. The only thing he cared about this morning was borrowing my phone so he could surf the web while I’m busy working.”

Oliver, whyyyyy...

“What would you like me to do?” Blake asked softly.

“I’d like you to kick his ass!” Brent grunted. “Or at the least, take that nano gear away from him. Why does he even need it? He isn’t fighting. Hell, he isn’t even working!”

“I’d love nothing more than to kick his ass, but I don’t think my parents would approve,” Blake pursed his lips. “Also, the gear’s on loan. I’ve already told him, as soon as we get more fighters, he has to give it back. If you want some of your own, I could loan some to you as well. Actually, now that I think about it, it’d probably help you build faster.”

Brent nodded, reluctantly. “That’d be nice, but what are you gonna do about Oliver?”

“Well, he’s already on house arrest. My mom promised that she was gonna keep him busy with work. I’ll ask her what she has planned, I was on the way to see her anyway. Taking away his nano gear does sound like the right thing to do, though.”

“You do that,” Brent grunted, and returned to work. “Real house arrest, no borrowing phones.”

Blake shook his head and continued on toward the bunkhouse. He agreed with the disgruntled constructor. If Oliver wasn’t his brother, he would have probably left him on the Ursa planet to save himself. But, he was family. He could only hope that Oliver would change his ways.

“Hey mom,” Blake greeted his mother in her office. “Dad said you wanted to see me?”

“Good morning. I just wanted to catch you up on some things and ask a few questions.” She gestured toward the sofa behind her. “Grab a seat.”

He reclined on the comfortable cushion and asked, “What’s up?”

“I talked with Jessica this morning. I told her what’s going on with the police.” She chuckled. “It’s funny, but she doesn't seem to care that cops died, and we’re on the run. The only thing that upset her was that I made the cashiers check out to her.”

Blake nodded knowingly. “She doesn’t want to become an accessory to the crime.”

Donna snorted and shook her head. “Oh, she doesn’t seem to care about that either. She just said it will make cashing it out harder. Evidently, I should have contacted her first so I could make it out to one of her LLCs.”

“Is she going to have a problem getting a hold of the money?”

His mother shook her head. “She didn’t seem concerned. But, even if she can't, we’re no worse off than we were before. The cashier’s check was just a desperate move I made when I found out we couldn’t cash out more than ten grand.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “If it works, that’s great. If not, we’ll just hold off on spending until Jessica comes through for us.”

Donna nodded. “Does that mean you think we should hold off on the Payson expansion you mentioned last week?”

Blake shook his head. “No. We have plenty of supplies already for level one buildings in the warehouse. We can just load them up on a flatbed trailer and drive them west. The only thing holding us back right now is nano and a lack of people.”

“Well, I can’t help you with nano, but Jessica says she can provide us with at least ten people.”

Blake grimaced. “I hate trusting people that I haven’t met. I think we’ve lucked out so far, but how are they gonna take it when they find out they’re working for fugitives and cop killers?”

“Oh, are you having second thoughts about telling everyone you’re from the future?”

“No, I don’t care about that,” Blake waved the issue away. “If they tell someone, people will just think they’re crazy. No, I’m worried about someone trying to do the ‘right thing’, and turn us in to the police. Do you think Jessica can handle the Payson expansion on her own? If she hides our involvement, they’ll never know they’re working with fugitives.”

Donna frowned. “How would that work?”

Blake took a breath. “Well, I can pick out a site near the portal. It’s up by the Mogollon Rim, so no one’s going to find it by accident this time of year. Then I just need the materials and nano to build the faction hall. After that’s done, I can appoint her Chancellor, and let her bring all the new people in.”

His mother nodded. “That may work for Payson, but what about this place? We never got to finish our conversation. We need more constructors, a glassblower, more farmers, and I’m sure there are a lot more jobs we’ll need as well.”

“I think we need to ask some of our faction members if they have any family they can trust.”

Donna furrowed her brows. “Who wouldn’t trust their family?”

“You’d be surprised,” Blake gave her a sad smile. “Not every family is like ours.”

“That’s sad.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Just make sure anyone who joins us can be trusted not to tattle to the cops. Them finding out about this place is the last thing we want.”

She nodded in agreement.

“Speaking of family, what do you have Oliver up to? Brent was pretty pissed off that he seemed to be just sitting around doing nothing. He tried to borrow his phone.”

Donna narrowed her eyes. “He’s supposed to be assembling furniture upstairs. Although, if he’s not, I don’t know what I can do about it. He’s not a child, I can’t just ground him. If I punish him too harshly, he’ll just leave.” She sighed. “Destroying his phone was the right call. At least now, he can’t contact any ‘outside influences.’”

“Well, the first thing we should do is take away his nano gear.” Blake grinned, evilly. “And, if that doesn’t work, I can always kick his ass.”

His mother rolled her eyes. “Then he’ll definitely leave.”

“He can’t leave if he can’t walk,” Blake quipped.

“That’s not funny, Blake.”

“It is to me,” he disagreed. “And, if he doesn’t listen, well… a level three faction hall has a jail in the basement. He might have to be our first prisoner.”

“You’d imprison your own brother?” she asked, horrified.

“To save his life? Of course I would.”

Donna stared at her son for a time before she shook her head and mumbled, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Is there anything else we need to discuss?” Blake asked. “I need to show Montgomery and Jeff where the goblin portal is and then head down to Mander portal for nano.”

“Yes, I think the fire tower will be off limits for the foreseeable future. Do you think the police are still watching the airport?”

“No chance. That was over a month ago.” He grinned. “Besides, who would be stupid enough to go back to the scene of the crime? It’s the last place they’ll expect us.” Suddenly, he remembered the black SUVs which arrived the night before. “Oh, by the way. The cops may have found the Ursa portal and called someone in.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Unlike the goblin portal, this one’s not really hidden. I’m sure quite a few cops stumbled into it before they figured out something's going on. That, and a fleet of black SUVs showed up. A bunch of people in suits got out and got into an argument with them.”

“You think they’re FBI?”

“Who knows who they are, but I don’t want to go near them.”

“What about your friends, are they ready to fight?” Donna changed the subject.

Blake nodded. “Yeah. I think I underestimated them. As much crap as Montgomery talks, he can deliver. Besides, I can’t babysit them forever. There’s too much to do.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “There is.”